PLANT CITY, Fla. — Look out Key Lime Pie, there's a new dessert in town.
While at the Florida Strawberry Festival Monday, Gov. Ron DeSantis put pen to paper making strawberry shortcake the official state dessert. The tasty treat will now join the ranks of Key Lime Pie which already serves as Florida's state pie.
"This designation of the strawberry shortcake as the state dessert is a way to pay tribute to the strawberry farmers and what they have contributed to our state and our agriculture industry. This is an important part of Florida and the farmers have helped put us on the map," DeSantis said.
Before signing the bill, DeSantis took a bite of strawberry shortcake to give the final seal of approval on the designation. The dessert appears to have passed with flying colors as the governor said "oh man" before giving a thumbs up.
The designation of the state dessert is an effort to promote the state's $1 billion strawberry industry.
The bill was sponsored by Republican Rep. Lawrence McClure of Plant City, which is the heart of the state's farming industry. The region has 10,000 acres of strawberry fields that produce 75 percent of the nation’s winter strawberry crop.
“The Florida strawberry is something that is obviously tremendously impactful in my district,” McClure said. “This year, we'll produce almost 265 million pounds of strawberries.”
He said that the industry, as well as other agriculture in Florida, has been under attack from foreign competition.
“This bill's just very simply about pushing back on Mexico, pushing back on other folks that are trying to take over our domestic production — engaging in price dropping and other tactics to put us out of business — and to just celebrate Florida agriculture...When you go and buy your groceries, look at the label and buy Florida."
The Florida Strawberry Festival runs through March 13 in Plant City. You can find a guide to all the fun here.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.